"We must not longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their crafiness in deceitful scheming." - Ephesians 4:14
"One of the greatest decptions in the practice of the Christian religion is the idea that all that really matters is our internal feelings, ideas, beliefs, and intentions. It is this mistake about the psychology of the human being that more than anything else divorces salvation from life, leaving us a headful of vital truths about God and a body unable to fend off sin." (The Spirit of the Disciplines - Dallas Willard)
This summer, I spent many hours hand-digging a well in my back-yard. The hole ended up being 13 feet deep and 13 inches in diameter. I don't mean to brag, but that is an impressive hole! The ground was wet and heavy clay. The auger bit was hard to turn. But the hole is done and soon it will be home to an automatic sump pump. I have high hopes that this well will be effective in removing groundwater from our yard when the storms come...I will keep you posted!
And now as I reflect on my summer's work, I see many parallels to our faith. Like that hole, our faith needs to be deep in order that we are not, "tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine." After all, we live in a world that competes for our loyalties. After all, it is easy to be passionate about politics or gender equality or climate justice. This is fine, however, unless we are deeply rooted in our faith with prayer and study, our passion means nothing. Unless we dig our hole deep, God takes a backseat instead of the driver's seat in how we respond to these 21st century storms. Unless we have a heart transformed by God...a faith deeply rooted in Christ...we will be washed away when the storms come.
However, Dallas Willard reminds us that in order for our relationship with Chist to be robust, our faith cannot just be deep; it cannot just be an intellectual ascent...it must also be wide. In other words, we must include our physical bodies in the practice of our faith. Certainly, a wide faith involves acts of service. However, we can't neglect worship, or fasting, or even our posture in prayer and in praise. This is the point of the spiritual disciplines...they engage our whole (hole!) being in our relationship with God so that when the storms come, we are able to stand.
Blessings to you and yours as you dig your hole!
Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.
